” On Tuesday, Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, launched their new gun-control campaign, Americans for Responsible Solutions, which will raise money and lobby on behalf of controlling gun violence. In announcing the group, and in the aftermath of the Connecticut shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, Giffords simply told ABC News’s Diane Sawyer, “Enough.”

Her husband amplified her thoughts. “I’m hopeful that this time is different, and I think it is,” he said in an interview set to air on Tuesday night. “Twenty first-graders being murdered in their classrooms is a very personal thing for everybody.”

The clout and emotional appeal that Giffords carries, even two years after the shooting and despite a difficult recovery, is apparent. From her appearance at the Democratic National Convention in September to her statements at the trial of her would-be assassin, Jared Loughner, in November, she remains a powerful presence. ”

Oh the left and their symbols . It is the only way they can manage to persuade anyone of their self-righteousness and have their way . Unfortunately for those of us who value reason as the desired standard of discourse the modern media age is tailor made for knee-jerk emotionalism .

The Oprahfication of American society is well on it’s way to ruining us all . Whether it rears it’s ugly head as the current war on boys and boyhood , the steadily growing government-facilitated dependence on the State , the current predilection to medicate our children into zombie-hood or the fact that one can’t make a move in this current environment without being pummeled silly under the impact of lawyers , the legal profession and “the authorities” in general , it all adds up to the same thing … the sissification of America in the name of ” progress” and a plea to the emotions and not the head .

If you want further proof of my insinuations look no further than the current political class and the bureaucrats riding their coattails . See any Andrew Jackson’s ? Any George Washington’s ? Any Teddy Roosevelt’s ? No , of course not . Why is that ? America in a few brief centuries has produced more great men and women than any nation would have a right to expect , but when did that species of American become extinct ?

2 Comments:

Clearly the Tucson shooting was more than just difficult for Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords; at best it only derailed an otherwise promising political career, but at worst it left her with physical impairments and understandable emotional anguish. Hell, it damn near killed her! And for a brief while, in her recovery and her husband headed off to space, Gabby was America’s sweetheart. Other than Jared Loughner, who wasn’t pulling for Gabby & Astronaut Mark? (This will no doubt be a made-for-TV movie, or perhaps even the big screen).

But their anguish, and two years later, their response, is short sighted. This is disappointing coming from, left-leaning politics notwithstanding, an intelligent woman. Its even somewhat more disappointing coming from her husband. Mark Kelly is a retired combat fighter pilot (Gulf War) and now former NASA Space Shuttle astronaut. Somewhere along the way Captain Kelly received training in, practiced and taught, the fine art of Damage Control. Find the problem and develop a meticulous response to mitigate further damage and avoid repeat incidents.

In gun control parlance; recognize that with 300 million firearms in American you cannot seize them all, and despite understandable emotion admit that the vast majority of gun owning Americans (an estimated 100 million) have never and will never break a law – much less commit mass murder.

Captain Kelly and Representative Giffords, my rifles and me being an NRA Life member did not cause the damage to our country’s safety, but your inability to come to grips that sometimes evil men do evil things, is more damaging. Both of you took an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution… You need to return to that oath.